3 down; 9 to go (probably)

Let’s do a recap of treatment number 3 - the long and short of it is “physically, a little bit rougher than the last one; emotionally, very very irritating”. While not unexpected, it is very annoying that the short-temperedness shows up so early in the process. I noticed that I’m much more short-tempered, easily annoyed, and grouchy - and sadly, I don’t expect it to get any better.

Physically, I’m still perfecting my cocktail of acid reduction measures. It’s interesting - some days the acid is really well controlled with the current set up and other days that mix isn’t quite enough. I do as much as I can to avoid triggering foods and I’m learning which foods are problem foods in the days right after treatment. Of course, I’m avoiding things like coffee, spicy foods, and acidic foods. I unexpectedly encountered a new trigger food that I wasn’t expecting - bananas. A real bummer because smoothies are an easy way for me to meet some of my nutritional needs, especially when I’m dealing with mouth sores and irritation. More about that in a minute.

This time around I struggled with a lot of nausea both before and after eating - making it difficult to want to eat. I ended up spending a lot of time in my favorite recliner at my mom's. I also got really fixated on corn chips as one of the only things that both tasted good and didn’t make me feel icky. Not a positive development but I managed my way through it. That’s one of the trickiest things about eating with cancer - you just never know what’s going to trigger difficulties eating.

A few new symptoms cropped up this time around chiefly around mouth sores. For several days, I was dealing with a lot of irritation on the roof of my mouth, inflamed tastebuds, and a bit of a fat lip. I didn’t deal with these as much last time. There are a lot of ways to deal with this and I’ve got a prescription mouth rinse to help keep the worst of the symptoms in check. The good news is that the sores and irritation go away after a few days.

Another physical symptom that cropped up is a bit of lymphodema - fluid retention due to lymph nodes being unable to remove waste. When I had my mastectomy, almost all the lymph nodes under my right arm have been removed. This puts me at a significantly higher risk of lymphodema and once that process starts, it can never be cured, only managed. It’s not particularly painful but it can be a bit tender if there is too much fluid. I can usually tell when I need to take action when the underside of my right arm gets puffy. I have a compression sleeve that I can wear that helps move some of the fluid back into circulation. I can also utilize lymphatic massage techniques to help move fluid around.

I also have a spot on my back where fluid tends to pool right under my shoulder. To combat too much pooling, I have to get help from someone else. Typically a back massage with some lymphatic draining techniques does the trick.

3 treatments down, a bunch still to go but we’re gonna make it. Probably....

OLIVIA